Jersey Trash
by TheGoldenSnitch1228
Summary: Will Solace applied to a prestigious boarding highschool in New Jersey, despite living in Texas. His family decides to spend the summer in a home on the Jersey Shore. While there Will meets an interesting bunch of teenagers.
1. Chapter 1

Mount Olympus School of Technology, home of the Mount Olympus Minotaurs, educates some of the brightest teenage minds on the East Coast, possibly even in the entire country. Separated into 25 academies, each specialized so the students will excel in their choice of future occupation. Located in Newark, New Jersey, this school is world renowned and placed in the top 500 best schools in the country for years running. Mount Olympus is also commonly known by many nicknames: MOST, The Minotaurs, Greek Life, and Will Solace's dream school.

Will applied to the school of his dreams months ago, back in december. He'd taken a test (which he got a B on from nerves), attended an online interview, and spent many hours awake at night thinking about whether or not he was willing to move to New Jersey.

"Hun, are you alright?" His mother asked him one Saturday morning in late May. Eighth grade was coming to a close, and everyone in his class already knew where they were going, except for him. He'd made arrangements to go to his local public school, as Mount Olympus doesn't tell you whether or not you've been accepted until the middle of the summer, and Will still wasn't sure if he wanted to go at all.

"Yeah… why do you ask?" Will yawned, rubbing his eye.

"Because you've got more bags under your eyes than you've got freckles on your face." She said, grabbing him by the chin and turning his face to look at her. "Hun, have you been sleepin' at all?"

"Not really." Will sighed, leaning his head on his hand. "It's just… New Jersey? It's so different than it is around here. What if I go and I don't like it?"

"Then you leave, and come back home." She said.

"That means you lose the money you spent on tuition." Will reasoned. "Besides, this place is my dream school! It's just… I don't know… I just don't know what I'm gettin' myself into."

"Well…" His mom started, holding his hands in hers comfortingly. "Your dad and I have been talkin' and we've decided that we're all going to spend the summer at the Jersey Shore."

"What?!" Will shouted.

"We thought you'd want to scope New Jersey out for a bit." She smiled.

"Mom, thank you, but I don't wanna waste yours and dad's money, and for the whole summer, I mean-"

"It's too late. We've already rented a house. Your sister Kayla and Aunt Diana are comin' too! You've missed them so much lately!" She smiled. Will bit the inside of his lip and sighed.

"You sure?" Will asked, pouting concernedly. She nodded. He groaned in defeat and she smiled.

"Start packing, we're leaving the day after you graduate."

" _Will!"_ Kayla basically tackled him when he and his parents arrived in their rented beach house.

"Hey, Kayla." He groaned, trying to push himself up. "K-Kay, you're crushing me."

"Oh, sorry." She laughed, standing up, and offering him her hand. "It's been too long, dude."  
"We skyped literally like 5 hours ago." Will cocked an eyebrow.

"But it's not the _same!_ Why do you have to live so far? Like, what's so great about Texas, New York is where it's at, man." She insisted. Will laughed.

"Will…" A cool and feminine voice spoke from behind him.

"Aunt Diana!" Will exclaimed happily, hugging his aunt tightly. She chuckled and mussed up his hair.

"How're you, kid?" She asked. Will beamed at her in response. She looked over his shoulder at his father and frowned. "Apollo…"  
"Diana…" He glared. Everyone stood in an awkward silence for a moment before he started laughing and hugged his much shorter sister, picking her up so her feet dangled. She looked uncomfortable, yet amused as she pat him on the back. "It's been too long."

"Much." She smiled. Apollo turned to his daughter and grinned widely, scooping her up in a hug.

"And how's my little girl?!" He shouted spinning her around.

"Daaadddd." She groaned, but laughed besides herself.

"I've missed you, Kay." He said, putting her back down. She smiled in response, but before she could say anything, Will grabbed her by the wrist.

"Let's go choose our rooms!" Will said, dragging her up the steps.

One afternoon later that week, Will found himself in a packed ice cream parlor on the boardwalk, waiting for Kayla to come back from the bathroom. He scooped up a piece of ice cream soaked banana from his banana split. He heard the bell on the door ding and glanced behind him to see who entered. A boy his age walked in, wearing all black and with knotted hair.

"Hey, Reyna." He greeted the cashier, leaning on the counter.

"Back to the vacation home, I see." The girl smiled.

"Of course." He smirked. "Anyway, everyone's waiting for me outside, we just need our usual order."

"So one mint chocolate chip with gummy bears and rainbow sprinkles, one cookie dough with chocolate sprinkles and brownie chunks, one blueberry pie topped with blueberries, very berry jam, and skittles, but only the blue ones, one caramel apple with nuts and strawberries, one coffee chocolate chip with caramel and… graham cracker (?), and one death by chocolate with brownie chunks and hot fudge, each in the biggest size possible and with a cherry on top." The girl, Reyna, recited, looking very focused. "Did I get everything that time?"

"Nope, Annabeth gets cake crumbs, not graham crackers." He sighed, feigning disappointment.

"Damn, I always mess up her order." Reyna said, snapping her fingers. "Anyway, it'll be out in... you know, Nico, I'm not even gonna lie anymore, it's gonna be a while, you might as well take a seat- if you can find one at least."

"Thanks." He quipped sarcastically. He turned around and started looking for a seat, of which there were none, save for Kayla's empty spot, and the extra chair that Kayla left her bag on.

"Hey, we've got a spare seat if you need somewhere to sit." Will said, gesturing to the guy, who was presumably named Nico, to have him sit down. He smiled awkwardly and took a seat, politely moving Kayla's bag from one seat to the other. Will held out his hand. "I'm Will."

"Nico." He replied, accepting the handshake.

"I couldn't help but overhear your, uh, _order."_ Will laughed. Nico chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, that. I've got needy friends, and I've got a lot." He said. Will smiled. "So what brings you to Jersey?"

"What makes you think I'm not from around here?" Will asked.

"Well, you talk like Forest Gump, your sun damaged face has more spots than there are grains of sand on that beach, your tan looks much too real too be one of us 'Jersey Trash,' and I've been visiting the shore since I was six, I know a tourist when I see one." He remarked. Will couldn't help but chuckle. "So what brings you to the oh so underwhelming state of New Jersey."

"Well, if you must know, I applied to a boardin' school in Newark, and my parents want me to decide if I like Jersey or not before comin'." Will explained.  
"You mean MOST?" Nico asked, leaning on his hand. "My friends go there. I've applied, but I doubt I'll get in."  
"For what academy?"

"Culinary, you?" Nico asked.

"Healthcare." Will said.

"Oh you're one of _those_ people." Nico joked. Will narrowed his eyes at him.

"What do you mea-" His voice was drowned out by a loud group of chattering teenagers entered the parlor. They looked around for a moment before making a beeline for their table.

"Nico!" One of them shouted.

"Fuck…" Nico muttered. They all crowded around him, one girl with choppy black hair and more ear piercings than Will could count, wrapped her arms around Nico's neck and leaned down so her head was on his shoulder.

"Hey kid, why is our ice cream taking so long?" She asked.

"It always does, Thals. This happens every year." Nico muttered.

"Who's your little friend?" A tall guy with short silvery blonde hair and glasses asked.

"I'm Will Solace." Will introduced himself.

"I'm Jason Grace." He greeted.

"Percy."

"Annabeth."

"Hazel."

"And I'm Thalia." The girl leaning on Nico's shoulders said. "I'm Nico's favorite."

"As if! I'm his favorite!" Hazel said.

"I'm the only one that listens to the same music as him." Thalia countered.

"I'm his sister!" Hazel fought back.

"Girls, we all know who's Nico's favorite is-" Percy said smugly.

"Me!" Jason interjected. Nico just groaned and let his head fall forward onto the table. Will watch in amusement while eating his ice cream. Kayla walked out of the bathroom but stopped in her tracks when she got to the table, obviously surprised by the hoard of arguing teenagers swarming around a random emo looking kid sat across from her brother.

Will looked up at her, still with a mouthful of ice cream, and gave her a look that simply said " _just go with it."_

"Would you all just shut up?!" Nico shouted at his friends, who all huffed and quieted down.

"Hi…" Kayla muttered.

"Oh yeah, this is my sister, Kayla." Will laughed. They all chorused greetings.

"Nico your order is ready!" Reyna shouted from behind the counter. She handed them what looked like a cardboard fruit crate with all of the orders. Nico took them and placed them down on the table, pushing back his friends, who were all making grabby hands for their ice cream.

"Coffee chocolate chip."

"Me!" Annabeth called out, taking the order from his hand.

"Blueberry pie."

"Percy!" He shouted out his own name, taking the ice cream.

"Death by Chocolate and Caramel Apple."

"For the Graces!" Thalia said, taking them both and handing the latter to Jason.

"Cookie dough for Hazel, and mint chocolate chip for me." Nico finally finished, handing one to his sister and taking the last for himself.

"So y'all from Jersey?" Will asked.

"Yes… No… Kinda?" Jason muttered. "Thals and I are from up North, Morris County, but everyone else… not so much."

"I'm from California, but I moved to Cape May when I was eight." Annabeth explained.

"I moved here from the city when I was little." Percy added.

"Which city?" Will asked. They all stared at him for longer than could be considered not awkward.

"Like… _the_ city." Nico explained, like what he was saying was obvious. "New York."

"Oh…" Will said quietly.

"I'm from New Orleans." Hazel said, breaking the silence.

"And I'm from Italy." Nico finished.

"What? Really?" Will asked, grinning. Nico nodded.

"I've been living in Jersey since I was six, so you can't really tell, but when I'm tired or mad or something, I slip back into an Italian accent." He explained.

"And it's adorable." Thalia remarked, going back to leaning on Nico.

"He pronounces everything weirdly." Hazel added.

"And he'll curse in Italian too." Jason added.

"I doubt he can tell the difference between the two languages." Percy said.

"It's just one big mesh of words by then." Annabeth finished.

"Why am I friends with you guys?" Nico complained, burying his face in his hands. Will laughed.

"So are you too…?" Will asked, looking at Nico and Thalia. They glanced at each other and made a face, Thalia immediately retreating.

"God no." Nico said.

"We're cousins." Thalia explained.

"And she's 18."

"And he's 14."

"And we're cousins."

" _Cousins."_ Thalia added again for emphasis.

"They're also both gay as they get." Jason said. Nico and Thalia glared at him. Will laughed and boredly doodled on a napkin with a pen, soon enough he was writing numbers down without thinking about it.

"We should probably go. The only reason we're here is that our parents told us to get groceries and we got… sidetracked." Will said as he stood up, handing his mostly empty ice cream to Kayla so she could toss it out in the trash can behind her. He looked down at the napkin he'd drawn on. He'd written his phone number surrounded by a few stars and flowers "You seem cool… I'd love to hang out with you sometime… all of y'all, I mean." He added quickly. He slid the napkin to Nico, feeling his cheeks burn. "Text me." He after that he simply got up and made a beeline out of the parlor, dragging his overly excited sister behind him. As they walked out he heard Percy wolf whistling and them all chattering about how " _Nico just got a phone number!"_ And Will, despite being red in the face, couldn't help smile besides himself.


	2. Chapter 2

5:03 pm - **I wasn't sure if you were being serious**

5:03 pm - **But if you really wanted to hang out with us we could show you around later**

Nico sent the text the afternoon after the whole parlor incident. After clicking send he promptly chucked his phone across the room.

"Pathetic." Percy tutted, not looking up from his laptop.

"Shut up." Nico groaned, his face buried in a pillow. "You sure I wasn't being awkward?"

"Positive." He insisted. "Why are you freaking out, anyway? He's just some random guy from Texas or some shit like that."

"I'm always freaking out." Nico commented. "I just don't like making people feel uncomfortable by saying something awkward. I mean, what if he thinks I'm weird or something?"

"You _are_ weird, Neeks." Percy pointed out. Nico pouted and glared at him, making Percy laugh. "Chill, dude. No one thinks about it that much."

" _I_ do."

"You're overthinking it." He said. "Anyone stupid enough to cut you off because of an even

 _remotely_ awkward text isn't worth your time." Nico sat up and glared at his phone from across the room childishly. He basically froze when it dinged. He just stared at it for a moment.

"Staring at it isn't gonna make it go away, Nico, just fucking read it, you child." Percy groaned.

"Fuck off, dick." Nico muttered, before grabbing his phone and unlocking it, not even looking at the notification.

5:10 pm - _I'd like that_

5:12 pm - **Ok, great! Maybe we could all meet at like 5:30 later? Outside of the ice cream parlor?**

5:13 pm - _Sounds good see you guys there_

"Good?" Percy asked.

"Good." Nico sighed, pocketing his phone. "Now come on, we're all meeting Will by the ice cream parlor."

"Alright." Percy laughed, grabbing his backpack and following Nico out of the room.

"This place is actually cooler than I thought it'd be." Will said as they all walked down the boardwalk.

"Yeah, Jersey sometimes get a bad rep, but we're alright, I guess." Jason laughed.

"Arcade!" Hazel shouted, pointing out the building with shining neon lights. "Anyone up for some laser tag?"

"Hazel," Jason said in his typical mom voice.

"C'mon, it'll be fun." She goaded. He rolled his eyes and she took that as agreement, bolting inside, Nico not far behind.

"Can we get spots for the next available game?" Nico asked the guy behind the counter, who Nico recognized to be Chiron.

"Of course, Nico." Chiron said, smiling. "So it's six of you like usual?"

"Nah, we've got eight today." Hazel said.

"Alright, that's $72."

"And with our special discount?" Percy stage whispered.

"$50." Chiron said, with an amused eye roll.

"Cough it up, Thalia." Annabeth said.

"What do you mean 'cough it up'? I'm not paying?!" Thalia insisted.

"You're 'Ms. Adult', pay up." Jason prodded his sister, who huffed and dug a wallet out of her jacket pocket and dropped a fifty dollar bill on the counter.

"Next game is in 20 minutes." Chiron said. They all nodded and wandered off, each landing on a different arcade game, Nico landing on Skee Ball.

"'Special discount'?" Will asked him.

"Our dads went to college with him. He's a family friend so he never puts the price over $50." Nico explained.

"That's cool." Will said.

"Yep. The Kronos brothers and their friends." Nico said mockingly.

"Kronos?"

"Their last name. My dad and uncles changed theirs when they got married. My grandfather was not a good man." Nico said.

"Ah…" Will muttered. There was a short silence before Will spoke again. "You suck at this don't you?"

"And you could do better?" Nico glared.

"Much." Will said confidently. He took a couple of quarters out of his pocket and popped them into the machine next to Nico. He swung his arm back and rolled the ball up the lane, landing in the 200 hole.

"Lucky roll." Nico mumbled. They kept playing, Nico resulting with more tickets, after having played more rounds.

"Guys, c'mon, they game is starting." Nico shoved their tickets in Percy's backpack before meeting everyone by the door.

"Blue team." Chiron said, handing a vest and a laser gun to Annabeth.

"Red team." He said to Jason.

"Blue." Percy.

"Red." Thalia.

"Blue." Nico.

"Red." Hazel.

"Blue." Will. Chiron smiled at the group as they entered. "Enjoy the game."

Nico didn't factor in the fact that Will wasn't used to his friends when they entered the game. It _wasn't_ a game to them. They'd played with the same team every summer for the past few years, and Nico's team, the Blue Team, had lost their four year winning streak two years earlier and hadn't yet regained it. They went all out in these games, typically teaming up to get out the entire yellow team (strangers playing the game) before starting out their tournament.

Not long into the game, Nico found himself meeting Will crouched behind a short wall.

"You having fun?" Nico asked quietly, slightly out of breath from running and ducking.

"Lots." Will smirked. "I've never played with anyone so… into the game."

"Sorry, I should've warned you. We do this whole like tournament thing and it's weird and overly enthusiastic-"

"Don't worry about it. This is fun." Will muttered before standing and turning to aim and shoot. Nico ducked down and moved behind another wall. He could see Jason trying to hide behind a wall not too far away, but he was turned in a way that he couldn't see Nico. He was whispering to Thalia, who was ducked behind a short wall so only her gun and head were visible.

" _Will._ " Nico whispered. When the blonde looked over, Nico jabbed his head in the direction of them two and then pointing to some open space in front of Thalia, but out of Jason's range. Will looked, before locking eyes with Nico and nodding.

Will ran out, gun blazing, in front of Thalia, who started to fire, but Will ducked behind a wall. Meanwhile Nico snuck behind another wall even closer to the Grace siblings. If Jason just moved out the slightest bit more they could get him. Thalia stood up, trying to get a different angle to shoot him but instead Nico took the shot and she was out.

" _GOD- FUCK!"_ She shouted. Nico stepped out gun in hand, and when Jason moved to aim at him, Will popped up and shot him. Percy and Annabeth then ran out from where they hid. They were all ready to say the game was finished until Percy was shot square in the chest, making Nico, Will, and Annabeth crouch on reflex. Annabeth grabbed her gun and shot rapidly at the source, hitting Hazel immediately.

"Dammit!" She stomped. Percy and Annabeth cheered, high fived with both hands, and Will and Nico high fived for just a second longer than normal before blushing and looking away from each other.

"You two," Jason said, gesturing to Will and Nico, "are never allowed on the same team again."

They all spent the next couple hours wandering down the boardwalk, getting popcorn and ice cream, and wasting money on stupid games, like the balloon popping one that Will won or the water gun one that Percy won. They finally stopped down at the beach, barefooted and playing soccer.

"Nico heads up!" Jason shouted, passing it to Nico, who shot it past Will, the other team's goalie, meaning he'd scored. They cheered, jumping and kicking the sand around. Will took a seat in the sand, staring at the shoreline. Nico sat beside him, with some space between them.

"Something wrong?" Nico asked.

"Nah, it's just... " Will said, his eyes never leaving the horizon. The sun was just starting to set, making the sky turn a light purple that was reflected on the ocean water. The sun looked like it was just barely kissing the water, and seemed to have a warm red and orange halo surrounding it. The clouds just seemed to be blotted against the colors, almost blending in with the sky they hid behind them, "I never thought Jersey could be so pretty."

"Yeah…" Nico smiled. "New Jersey has never really been anything special, but it's home, and it feels and looks like it."

There was quiet, the only sounds being the shifting water and the sea gulls swooping and calling overhead. This short but sweet silence was broken by a splash in the water.

" _Percy!"_ Annabeth shouted, Percy had pushed her in, and was standing at the edge of the water, with only his feet submerged. She glared and pulled him down by the hand. Jason, Thalia, and Hazel all ran in to join them, splashing each other with water.

"C'mon." Will laughed, grabbing Nico by the wrist and dragging him along. Nico tried to plant his feet in the sand, but just slipped and was pulled into the water. Nico splashed water at him, making him recoil, laughing. Will splashed back, soaking Nico's face and hair in seawater. They kept splashing each other like children until Jason made them all leave. They ended up having to buy beach towels from a boardwalk vendor to dry of the cold ocean water.

Jason offered to drive Will back to where he was staying, but Nico walked him to the door.

"So…" Nico started, holding his towel snuggly around his shoulders, "how you liking Jersey so far?"

"Its… interesting." Will smiled.

"You think you're going to stay?" Nico asked, trying to keep the hope from being too apparent in his voice.

"I think I just might." Will said, holding his hands behind his back and rocking back and forth. "No promises though. I've only been here a few days."

"Of course." Nico agreed, smiling besides himself.

"Bye, Nico."

"See you never."


End file.
